Momentum Enhancement from Impacts into Crushed Basalt at 2 and 5.5 KM/S, Motivated by Dart

Abstract Utilizing both a large two-stage light gas gun and a 50-mm powder gun, impacts were performed into crushed basalt targets mounted on a large pendulum assembly. These experiments were performed to measure the momentum enhancement β, meaning the increase in momentum transferred to the target due to the ejecta. These tests were performed at a large scale (for the laboratory), with impactors being 2-, 3-, and 4.45-cm-diameter aluminum spheres. Impacts at 2 km/s per second were performed with 3- and 4.45-cm-diameter aluminum spheres; impacts at 5.5 km/s were performed with 2- and 3-cm-diameter aluminum spheres. A large scale is important in these tests due to the known impactor-size-dependent behavior of momentum enhancement